1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for a mesh network which can be used in conjunction with the existing electrical infrastructure in a building to provide for additional control and functionality to devices utilizing the electrical infrastructure. Specifically, it relates to retrofitted or replacement electrical switches which can replace traditional switches and operate remotely through an internal wireless communication system or which can be used to create a new network from scratch.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today there is an increasing emphasis on energy efficiency, not only for the individual and the company, who are the energy consumers, but also for energy providers. This is especially true for electrical energy. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that in 2011 about 461 Billion kW hours of electricity were used in the USA by the residential and commercial sectors. Electricity used for lighting was equal to 17% of total electricity consumed by both of those sectors. Residential lighting consumption was about 186 Billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity in the USA, or about 13% of all residential electrical consumption. For the commercial sector, lighting consumed about 275 Billion kWh of electricity or 21% of all the commercial sector electricity.
This large consumption of electricity for lighting has led to governmental regulation to utilize more efficient lighting devices and the manufacture of the incandescent bulb (e.g. the light bulb as originally contemplated in U.S. Pat. No. 223,898 to Edison) has essentially been halted. Instead, lighting is being increasingly supplied through compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs and halogen bulbs and to an increasing percentage, light emitting diode (LED) bulbs.
In order to save power, such as for lighting and other habitation necessities, commercial buildings have for some time now had the desire to have the building automated not only for convenience of operation, both locally and remotely, but also to control the energy usage or consumption of a building. Building automation is best exemplified as a distributed control system or the networking of electronic devices designed to monitor and control mechanical, security, fire and flood safety, lighting (especially emergency lighting), HVAC and humidity control and ventilation systems in a building.
The core functionality of a building automation system is that it keeps building climate within a specified range (particularly when people are present, but may also monitor temperature in critical facilities such as computer server rooms), lights rooms based on an occupancy schedule or detection of actual occupancy (in the absence of overt switching to the contrary), monitors performance and device failures in all systems, and provides malfunction alarms to building engineering/maintenance staff and contractors. Essentially, it acts to maintain the building in a manner that takes into account its current occupancy and use. Thus, the building does not light rooms where light is not needed, heat rooms where heat is not needed, or otherwise utilize energy in a manner where someone does not directly benefit from the energy use. It also does this provision if electricity without input from the user of the facility. By doing so, it reduces building energy and maintenance costs compared to a non-controlled building.
Another advantage of automated building operation is in rapid detection of, and reaction to, problems. For example, if a critical HVAC system goes down, the automation system may notify a troubleshooter in charge of computer servers. This person can then remotely switch over to a backup cooling system to prevent damage or shutdown of critical servers. Alternatively, the system can automatically detect the problem, and immediately switch over to backup systems.
Home automation is the residential extension of commercial building automation. It is automation of the home, housework or household activity.
Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), appliances, security features such as locks of gates and doors or alarms, and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security. Home automation for the elderly and disabled can provide increased quality of life for persons who might otherwise require caregivers or institutional care. In effect, home automation serves to provide automation to features to eliminate the need of an occupant to control a particular facet of their environment manually. Thus, for example, doors can open upon approach without the need of a user to manually unlock and open them, rooms can automatically be configured to a comfortable temperature, and lighting can be used only when necessary to see. This supplies both energy savings and improved convenience.
The popularity of home automation has been increasing greatly in recent years due to much higher affordability of automation and networking components and the simplicity and ubiquity offered through smartphone and tablet control via home networks. As such “smart” mobile devices (essentially small network enabled general purpose computers which maintain relatively constant communication via a network of some form) are often regularly in the possession of an individual now, they provide for ready central control for networked devices and for powerful, portable, and personal readily available computing power. The concept of the “Internet of Things”, which is essentially a buzz phrase for the concept of networking computers with specialized functions together with each other, has tied in closely with the popularization of home automation.
Generally, a home automation system integrates control devices present in a house with a smart phone or similar control device. The techniques employed in home automation include those used in building automation as well as the control of specific domestic activities, such as home entertainment systems, houseplant and yard watering, pet feeding, changing the ambiance “scenes” for different events (such as dinners or parties), and the use of domestic robots for automatically carrying out certain activities (such as vacuuming). Traditionally devices are connected through a superimposed and existing home network (e.g. a wireless network with coverage generally in the area of the home) to allow control of the automation devices by a personal computer controlled by the homeowner. The systems typically also allow remote access and control of the automation devices from the Internet via a web browser, smartphone “app”, or similar technology. Through the integration of information technologies with the home environment, systems and appliances in the home are able to communicate in an integrated manner which results in convenience, energy efficiency, and safety benefits.
One problem with home automation systems currently is that the automation devices available tend to be specific to a particular narrow operation because of the need to retrofit the controlled device for automation control and the desire for proprietary control and integration. For example, it is easy to buy a system to enable a user to control a single light bulb from their smartphone, to control their thermostat from their computer, or to remotely mow the lawn from a controller by the bed. However, the underlying control devices often are separate, have no integrated single control (they each use their own Internet portals and/or apps to provide the control), and cannot monitor or interact with each other. For example, the thermostat may detect that the homeowner is not home, but cannot communicate it to the light bulb in the bedroom and have the light bulb turn itself off or to indicate to the vacuum cleaner that now is a good time to vacuum the living room.
In many respects, these technologies are not automation systems, they are simply “remotely controlled” as they allow for the user to remotely turn off and on a light or the air conditioning in their home from their office but do not really “automate” lighting control. The automation the systems appear to provide is often a mere “auto-off” Similarly, these automation devices are usually dependent on the existence of an overarching home network infrastructure that can be power demanding. Thus, the robotic vacuum may activate the lights in a room even though it clearly doesn't need them simply because the systems cannot communicate with each other.
More robust home automation systems do exist but usually have to be installed at great expense when the house is first built as many of the systems are reliant on being supplied with wired interconnectivity to effectively function together. For example, most automation systems require wires for electricity, and also are often supplied with wires for secure connectivity and networking between components. Structures such as walls, electrical, plumbing, and other infrastructure can hinder communication and connectivity in a variety of ways, and homes not built to handle communication in the presence of signal blocking walls and the like can often not obtain a high degree of networking making a home automation system more of a single room (or even single device) novelty than a valuable control apparatus. Further, such wired system are often rendered obsolete or “archaic” as technology changes because they are hardwired in to the home. A good example of this is how built in whole house stereos that utilize multi disc CD-changers went from state of the art, to obsolete with the advent of downloadable music files and on-demand broadcast stations.
While the construction of networked infrastructure at the time of construction is effective in new build homes, it can be overly expensive (and extraordinarily difficult) for existing structures and, as such, there is a need for retrofitting existing houses with only conventional electrical wiring with a system which can respond remotely on a point-to-point basis or from a hub controlled network. Basically, to be able to adapt a home automation system to the latest technology, there is a benefit to not having the system built in as that allows for the system to be removed and replaced or updated as technology changes.
Another problem with home network systems is that, as they operate currently, they constantly consume power associated with the backbone communication system (home network) because the backbone communication system requires essentially constant communication be maintained with all the connect devices and external network such as the Internet. Without such constant connections, the remote control capabilities, and much of the automation, may not work. As many systems are installed to remotely control lights or similar items to reduce power costs, this is a dichotomy as the power saving switches (which turn the lights on and off automatically) may require a power draining network hub, and their own on-board power systems, to operate near continuously to provide for effective control. Thus, the switch may allow for the light to be turned off to save energy, but the switch itself may consume additional energy when the light is both on and off. Thus, the system may actually save less energy than implementation of conventional power saving and remote control techniques (e.g. the use of timer or motion sensing switches on lamps and the practice of turning lights off when one leaves the room). Most remote control switches on the market today are dependent on a central hub for communication.
Multi-way switches provide for unique problems in device control. A multi-way switch, as contemplated herein, is generally a situation where a switch can provide for more than a binary (on/off) control (e.g. a dimmer) or where a multitude of switches can control a single object. Multi-way switches are particularly prevalent in residential lighting applications. In a first instance, floor plans of residential structures are often more open than those of commercial structures and rooms will often have multiple entry ways. In order for lighting to be turned on and off effectively with multiple-entryway rooms, it is generally necessary that each entryway have the ability to control the lighting of the entire room independently of the setting of any other switch controlling the lighting in that room. In its simplest form, this is the ability of a user to turn on a light at switch A, cross the room and then turn off the same light at switch B. While this concept is near ubiquitous in housing, it actually requires very complicated wiring mechanisms and additional components to implement compared to having a single switch control. As such it is very wasteful of resources such as metal wiring when installed. The cost of wiring (independent of the actual fixture costs) in a new structure generally has two components, first the cost of the wire itself, and second, the cost of the labor to install it. In residential houses the major driver is the labor, but the material is not inconsequential at 20 to 30% of the total cost.
In these types of arrangements, the two-way, three-way and higher-way arrangement of switches (where the same fixture can be controlled from multiple switches) requires significantly more labor time from more experienced electricians, specialized components, and more wire to interconnect the operation. In effect, if a system is wired simply where the wires connect directly to the outlet from both switches, one has to turn both switches off to turn the outlet off, while any one of them being on will result in power. This does not allow for free toggling. For example, wiring a single bulb to be controlled from two switches with free toggling (where any change on either switch toggles the lights' current status) requires replacing the standard two-way switches normally used in lighting applications with three-way switches (or an equivalent circuit), wired in a particular pattern. For three or more switches, three-way and four-way switches are required in particular patterns. This complication therefore costs significantly extra to install both in parts (due to the more complicated switches and additional wiring) and labor (to make sure they are connected correctly).
The cause of this complication is that the physical operation of the switch (e.g. toggling) is physically connected to the functionality of the switch (e.g. communicating electricity). A light switch, quite literally, is connected into the wire and directly acts as a physical switch to allow or stop electrical flow. Because each wire leading into an outlet is either on or off, it can be impossible to provide for the ability to freely toggle power from any of the switches without adding additional paths which reconnect the flow in different ways.
One major problem in all electrical wiring systems is that once an electrician has wired the system during construction (which usually occurs when only the skeleton of the structure exists and it is easy to construct things that will eventually be within walls), the only way to change the system is a physical rewiring of the system. This usually requires the re-running of wires, as well as changes to the switches themselves. This is usually very costly as it can require tearing the surfaces (usually drywall) off of walls to access the wires, or it requires sophisticated tools to thread new wires through difficult to access (and even to see) passageways.
Lighting applications also often need the ability to control electricity in an analog fashion. Dimming switches, fan controls, and similar devices do not provide a simple on/off control to a light, but allow the amount of electricity flowing to the device to be adjusted in a continuous or stepped fashion to allow for additional control. These systems can be particularly problematic from a wiring perspective as it can be necessary to know which switch has primary control and many network capable switches are simply unable to operate in a non-binary fashion.